National Poinsettia Day
Visit your local nursery on #NationalPoinsettiaDay
National Poinsettia Day is celebrated annually on 12 December across the world.
The poinsettia’s connection to the Christmas season dates back to 16th century Mexico.
Legend tells of a girl who worried she had no gift to celebrate Jesus’ birthday because she was very poor. An angel told her to give any gift with love, so the young girl gathered weeds from along the road. She placed these weeds around the manger and miraculously they blossomed into beautiful red stars.
Joel Roberts Poinsett, an American botanist and the first United States Minister to Mexico, first brought the poinsettia into the United States when he sent cuttings home to Charleston in 1825.
The poinsettia started to take root in American culture in the early 1920s when Paul Ecke – a second generation farmer in California – discovered a grafting technique that caused the seedlings to branch. The family hawked their Christmas flowers at roadside stands and Paul Ecke Junior advanced the sales of the flowers through shipping and marketing.
The House of Representatives created Poinsettia Day in 2002 to honour the father of the poinsettia, Paule Ecke. The date – 12 December – marks the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett, the man responsible for bringing the plant to the United States.
To celebrate, visit your local nursery or florist and fill your home with the beautiful poinsettia flower.
Use #NationalPoinsettiaDay to post on social media.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites Randfontein Herald, Krugersdorp News and Get It Joburg West Magazine
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
